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Our mission at Team Lally is to be your best resource for real estate advice. Whether you are a buyer, seller, or investor, our team of professionals can answer any questions you might have about real estate. Subscribe to this blog to get the latest news on local market trends and receive expert tips for buying or selling a home.

Today we want to go over three things you can do to get your home ready for sale, which are: declutter, depersonalize, and “de-clean.”

Let’s start with decluttering. As a rule of thumb, the best way to declutter your home is by removing one third of the content from every room. In the kitchen, clear off counter spaces and remove magnets and other items from the front of the refrigerator.

Next, it’s time to depersonalize. Doing this will allow potential buyers to imagine themselves in your home. Belongings that are near and dear to your heart, like a bobblehead collection for example, may not be so appealing to buyers with different interests from your own. Here are a few tips on how to make your home feel like a clean slate for potential buyers:

Make all beds every day.

Keep all toilet seats down.

Make sure towels are hung properly.

Make sure all crumbs are cleaned from counter tops after meals.

Don't leave dirty clothes on the floor and put all your belongings away.

It could be difficult for some buyers to see past niche items or highly personal design choices. Repainting your home with neutral colors is another great way to make your property look more like a clean slate for buyers.

Following these three tips will engage your buyers’ senses.

Lastly, remember to “de-clean.” We recommend making use of professional cleaners. Here's a list of cleaning recommendations:

Carpets professionally cleaned the first week it is on the market.

Home professionally cleaned every two weeks on Fridays.

Hire yard crew for cleanup.

Hire professional window cleaners to clean all windows.

Hire someone to cut and bag grass each week, as well as pull weeds and trim.

Empower children to get involved in keeping the house clean. Get them excited about their new room, or the new yard. Perhaps let them buy items for their new room now, and decorate their room to be what they want in their new room.

Children are like adults. When it is new and they like it, they are more likely to take care of it. Buy a new basketball hoop and tell them that it will go up at the new home.

Following these three tips will engage your buyers’ senses and make for a much more attractive home. This will make your home sell much faster. You can also check out our morecomprehensive list of staging tips here.

If you have any other questions or would like more information, feel free to give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you soon.

Our featured guest in this episode of the Team Lally Radio show is Jim Murphy, the Executive Director of Honolulu Habitat for Humanity. Jim talks about making the move from Chicago to Hawaii with his wife and his background in healthcare.

He goes on to tell the story of making the move from Corporate America to a non-profit organization like Honolulu Habitat for Humanity. We discuss the their mission to build homes for families in need on the island and some of their ongoing projects. We also talk about the importance of home-ownership, how people can join the programs and how volunteers can help in building the homes.

Also in this episode: Quotes of the day, Tips of the week, special events, this week's Open houses and Coming soon listings. Who is Jim Murphy?

Jim Murphy is a Senior level strategic and organizational professional, with extensive leadership experience in strategic business development, real estate, finance and operations.

He is originally from Chicago and earned his MBA for Non-Profit, Public and Organizational Management from North Park University. He is currently the Executive Director of Honolulu Habitat for Humanity.To reach Jim you may contact him in the following ways:

Joining Team Lally in this episode is RB Kelly of Body Language Boss. RB tells the story of being born and raised in Utah, how she met her husband and what brought them to Hawaii. She goes on to tell us the importance of our body language and how to read and understand these cues.

She talks about the process involved in patterns to look for when reading someone's body language. We also discuss some of Body Language Boss's programs, where RB talks about how you can use these skills to build genuine rapport with people, using science-based principles will help you earn the respect, recognition, and business.

Also in this episode: Quotes of the day, Tips of the week, special events, this week's Open houses and Coming soon listings.

Who is RB Kelly?

RB Kelly is a Corporate trainer, Keynote Speaker & Personal Coach from Body Language Boss. At Body Language Boss, they believe that changing your body language using science-based principles will help you earn the respect, recognition, and business that you deserve and give you the competitive advantage you need in Hawaii to thrive and take care of your ohana.

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Team Lally Testimonials

Maurice - "My results were very positive. Team Lally was very efficient and always kept me informed during every step of the process. I was never left in the dark wondering what was going on. She worked in the middle between myself and the escrow company or the lender and really just was my point of contact. She would explain any questions I had about the paperwork and kept me informed of what they needed from me. They really did a great job and I appreciated everything they did!
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Peter - "I had been looking at the search function on their website and then Cherie got in touch with me. We started scheduling houses to look at and as soon as I found anything I liked, she would schedule it immediately. She was always able to meet my schedule and willing to drive all over this island to find my house. The whole process went very smoothly!
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Paul - "Team Lally was really helpful and great to work with! They worked to my needs in what I was looking for and were very good at identifying houses that would be a good fit for us. Cherie, our agent was very patient and kept the same enthusiasm from the day I met her through the very last house we ended up purchasing. It was like a breath of fresh air with her professionalism throughout the entire process."

Shawn - "One person that really stood out to us during the whole process was Keli’i. It’s definitely a seller’s market here in Hawaii so houses are on and off the market very quickly. We expressed our frustrations about that with him and that night he was emailing us with prospective houses and times we could go look at them. He really took the initiative and reached out to us. I would recommend Team Lally fully."

Eric - "We had good results when we worked with Team Lally. Our first buyer unfortunately bailed out but it wasn’t for a lack of trying from Team Lally. They put in a lot of effort with their marketing and the exposure of the property. It was all great and they had really good customer service!
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Ryan - "I’ve worked with Team Lally twice now. I’m in the military and was stationed in Hawaii so I reached out to Team Lally to help me buy a home. They were helpful and we found a place quickly that I was happy with. After a few years I had to move for the military and plenty of times Adrienne was able to step in and helped me out when I needed someone to watch the house or find a renter. I didn’t want to rent it because I was coming back maybe 5 months later so Adrienne went out of her way to find someone that was trustworthy to stay there to watch my house and my dog until I came back. They were very understanding of my needs and able to find exactly what they could do to help me.
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Benito -"We were able to get into a house quickly, and it was a pleasant experience. Our Realtor, Kailyn, was constantly checking up with us. When we started to close, she made sure everything was done on time. On top of that, after we had moved in, the marketing manager came to the house to congratulate us. He brought us some gifts, too. I thought that was really great!"

Phil -"We bought a home and sold a home with them. Both experiences were excellent. They helped us with everything we didn’t understand. When I was looking to purchase a home, Adrienne herself picked me up and drove me around to look at homes. She was at our call whenever we wanted to look at a home!"

Brendan -"They were phenomenal! They were very quick to respond to all my phone calls and emails. They gave me great guidance on how to get the house prepped for the open house. We had an offer the first day, and a second offer the next day, and the house pretty much sold itself after that! Alesia Borja was great in the closing process. I had lots of questions because there were so many details that needed to be taken care of in order to close on time. She responded quickly and made lots of phone calls after hours in order to make sure the house closed on time!"

Geri -"I really enjoyed them helping me. We had a lot of paperwork going on at once, because we were selling a condo, purchasing a house, and doing the 1031 Exchange. They really helped out. I was in California, so there was a three hour time difference. I had a lot of questions, and some were pretty early in the morning for them, but they always got back to me promptly. When we were getting ready to sign the final papers, I noticed that the 1031 Exchange wasn’t on there. I got in touch with Alesia from Team Lally, and she helped me out. I enjoyed working with them, and I would do it again!"